After six months of silence, one finally comes proposal from Minister of Housing Mehmet Kaplan (MP). In a debate article, he promises that the state will take greater responsibility for new housing being built. What he does not say is what the responsibility should look like and how many kronor the government intends to set aside in the spring budget.
In the election campaign, both the Green Party and the Social Democrats promised investments in more housing for students. The Social Democrats wanted to invest one billion to subsidize the construction of student apartments and small rental apartments. The Green Party promised co-financing for 10 new student apartments and reduced property taxes on student corridors.
It has now been six months since the government took office, but no new measures have been presented apart from a review of the rules for subletting. Today's debate article also does not contain any concrete initiatives. It is good that Kaplan confirms our view that the state needs to take financial and structural responsibility to enable housing construction for students. And it is certainly positive that the government wants to support the municipalities and help them take responsibility for housing. But what should such a responsibility look like? And how much money will such an investment cost?
The government's goal is to create 250 new homes by the year 000. No one seems to know, or want to say, how many of these homes will go to students. To achieve the goal, the government wants to invest in modern and flexible modular housing, among other things. The question is what it will mean for the residents in terms of security and standard. All too often, proposals for flexible housing are about lowering the standard or thumbs down on accessibility requirements. This is a short-term reasoning based on the erroneous conclusion that housing for students can be built with lower requirements than other housing. The truth is that what unites us students is our studies, not what housing needs we have.
Furthermore, Mehmet Kaplan proposes investments in public transport. It's a thought on the same theme as The moderates had when they wanted to expand their Sweden construction with 20 student housing. However, we are afraid that such investments will only benefit a very small part of Sweden. IN SFS latest housing report It was stated that eleven cities in Sweden cannot guarantee that new students will get a new home within six months. The housing shortage for students is thus a national crisis that cannot be solved by the government, as in the example, building more subways in Stockholm.
It is positive that the Minister for Housing has finally taken the leaf out of his mouth and that the housing shortage for students is being raised, but the concrete measures are still lacking. In the government's spring budget, which will be presented in a few weeks, we will get the answer to whether the government is really serious about taking responsibility for ensuring that more housing for students is built.